The Worst Way to Get a Tan
by an ocean of weltschmerz
Summary: Surviving in a desert is anything but easy, but Chris was going to find a way to make it happen.


**A/N: This is for of the seas' Survival Challenge at Of Prompts and Challenges.**

**I got Chris Rodriguez in a desert, facing natural hazards.**

**The prompt was: "Your plane has crashed in the middle of the desert, leaving you stranded with enemy monsters and enemy mortals. Find food, shelter, weapons, and supplies before you get killed."**

**Thank you to a glimmer in the night for the title.**

* * *

_Get away from the wreck, _he thought, attempting to focus.

Half-dazed, Chris scrambled backwards, away from the smoldering plane.

Barely a few minutes later it burst into flames. He glanced at it for a moment, then kept moving, knowing it would be best to put as much distance as possible between himself and the monsters/mortals.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed (maybe an hour?) when he decided he was far enough away, at least for the time being.

Okay. What the hell had happened?

A plane crash in the middle of the desert, with no signs of sabotage, and no obvious cause?

That didn't just _happen. _Especially not when Kronos was running things.

So either the pilot was possessed by a demon and forced into crashing the plane (okay, fine, maybe that was pretty unlikely. But, hey, anything can happen, right?) or this was planned.

He was going to go with planned.

Damnit. Kronos had probably figured out that he was considering deserting the Titans. Not that he _would_, of course, but he had thought about it.

He sighed. Not much got past The King of the Titans.

He surveyed his surroundings. There was not much to see, really.

Golden-brown sand, green cacti with colorful flowers (pink, yellow, orange, and red), y'know, a stereotypical desert scene.

The sky was a blue that was so bright it was kind of ridiculous, and the sun. The sun was shining down on him mercilessly, as if laughing at his discomfort.

New England summers don't prepare you for this kind of heat, that's for sure.

The survival classes back at Camp Half-Blood began to kick in, and Chris knew he needed to find shelter, food, and water.

He could hope for an oasis, but the chances of that were pretty low, and he wasn't going to wander around until he found one.

Shelter first. He could survive at least a day without water, but if he collapsed from heat stroke, he wasn't going anywhere.

Worst came to worst, he supposed he could tie his jacket between two cacti, and use that for some shade.

...what were those shapes in those distance?

_Please be rocks please be rocks please don't be a mirage please be rocks. _

It took maybe another hour to reach the boulders (which turned out not to be a mirage, thank the gods). It seemed to be about four o'clock, judging from the sun, but then, he was no expert.

He was beyond relieved when he found a rock outcropping he could take shelter under. It wasn't large, but it was something, and he was lucky he'd found it so quickly.

Now he needed water.

_Think, Chris, think._

Cacti. Cacti had water inside of them, didn't they?

He still had the sword strapped to his belt, that would do nicely in cutting one open.

Finding a cactus was no problem, but wait- weren't some poisonous?

There was no way he could take that risk, but he needed water.

He thought for a few minutes.

The birds. If it was safe for them, it would probably be safe for him. He'd avoid the cacti the animals were avoiding.

Shooing away the birds nibbling the purplish-red frui-

Fruit?!

That meant he had food.

He knew that there were still plenty of dangers, but he had _food_!

Maybe his father _was _watching over him. He was the god of travelers, after all. Maybe he still cared.

Maybe he'd made the worst mistake of his life by joining the Titans. And if he didn't survive this, he'd never be able to mae amends.

He had to survive.

He _would_ survive.

Okay. Water.

He wasn't entirely sure how to go about cutting open a cactus, so he figured he'd start with the fruit.

He picked five and placed them on top of his jacket, which was spread flat on the ground.

...wait.

Red-purple fruits? Oval-shaped...leaf-things?

(what even was that part of a cactus called?)

He'd seen this before, in pictures.

There was something about it...some way of getting water.

Those lea- whatever they were (if he got out of this, he'd look it up). Didn't they store water?

He could hardly believe his luck.

Maybe it was making up for the rest of his life, he hadn't been very lucky, in general.

More likely, it meant that something bad was going to happen soon, but he wasn't going to think about that.

He cut off three (who knew cacti were so hard to cut through, even with a celestial bronze sword?), placed them on his jacket as well, and picked up the entire bundle.

The sun was getting lower and lower in the sky. It would be dark soon, and Chris knew that.

A fire would be nice, especially since he'd heard desert nights were cold, but he had no kindling. He'd have to look for some tomorrow, and maybe try for a fire that night.

The fruit, though, was actually pretty good, and the leaf-things did in fact have water inside them. He was fairly sure they were edible, too. Maybe he'd try them tomorrow.

It wasn't the best meal, of course, but considering that he was stuck in the desert, it was wonderful.

He knew that he'd need weapons besides his sword- weapons that would work on the mortals if the need arose. He figured he could sharpen some rocks for that.

He'd traveled far enough to be pretty confident that neither the monsters or mortals would find him tonight, even if they were looking.

He also knew that he'd have to find a way to signal for help: there was no way he could survive for long like this.

For now, though, there was nothing else he could do.

Might as well try to get some sleep.


End file.
